Ruthless (46 page)

Muriele couldn't see the blade between them.
Where was it? She tried to jerk away from Angus. She had to help.
She'd plunge her short sword in Feradoch's neck. But her love's
father held her firm.

The men grunted and strained. Suddenly, there
was a gurgled cry. Neither moved. Blood seeped from between them
and spread on the ground.

Muriele dropped her weapon and pulled away to
run toward the still bodies.

Their eyes filled with horror, the Chiefs
walked slowly to the blood soaked ground.

She didn't know what to do. Tears streaked
her face as she looked up at Olaf and then Angus, pleading for
their help. They carefully lifted Magnus enough to see the bloody,
tangled arms.

The blade rested between them.

Olaf moved to Magnus' legs and looked at
Angus. "Take his shoulders. I'll take his legs. Put him on his
back."

The priest had to help, for Magnus' inert
body seemed to weigh twice as much. When they separated the two
men, blood covered them both. Their chests didn't move.

Were they both dead? Had they mortally
wounded each other?

The Chiefs knelt on the ground beside their
sons, facing each other. Their gazes met in sorrow.

Muriele keened and bent to press herself
against Magnus. Her tears dripped on his handsome face sending the
blood there into rivulets slowly coursing their way down his
cheeks.

He no longer looked the ruthless warrior.

With all vitality gone, his face was gentle,
his body lax.

"By all the Saints!" Muriele screamed at him,
"Ye canna leave me. Ye canna!" She balled up her fist and struck
him a mighty blow on the chest. "I'll hate ye the rest of my life
if ye do!"

On her knees, she crawled close and pressed
her body against him. 'Twas as if they were in bed and she wished
him to suckle her. Lifting his head on her arm, she pressed his
face to her chest.

Sobs tore at her throat. Suddenly, a sigh of
air whispered against her breast. She put her cheek against his and
faint words gasped from his lips.

"Canna breathe."

She looked down at her left breast pressed
against his nose and mouth. She near dropped his head in fear she'd
suffocated him.

"'Tis like I prophesied," Grunda's voice
sounded beside them. "I warned ye! Fathers would fight sons,
brothers would fight brothers, but ye wouldna heed Ragnhild's
words. Ye were both father to each young man. Ye loved the two in
your way. Now ye may be left with but one."

The Chiefs looked at each other in sorrow.
Olaf felt his son's chest. "His heart no longer beats. I will take
him to my tent and prepare him to take home for burial." He looked
at Magnus, worry in his eyes. "There will be no war over this. It
was no fault of Magnus. See you do your best for him, old
woman."

Men were already running out of the barbican
carrying two litters. Olaf accepted their aid in placing Feradoch's
body on one. Kinbrace warriors solemnly carried him back to the
army of tents by the water.

Graemme took Muriele by the shoulders and
lifted her from Magnus so they could take him into the castle and a
proper bed. She followed the litter so closely she near stepped on
the heels of the bearers.

Once he was on their bed, Sweyn cut away his
clothing. Grunda cleaned the shoulder wound with a preparation made
of Moneywort then quickly stitched it closed. During the tussle on
the ground, Feradoch's knife stabbed near Magnus' lung but his ribs
deflected it.

Father David stood at the foot of the bed and
prayed while Graemme and Chief Angus were there to provide anything
the two women called for. As they had done with his leg, Muriele
and Grunda worked together. As fast as Muriel knotted a stitch,
Grunda cut the thread, closing the wound from inside and then the
outer skin.

When they finished, Grunda used compresses
made from Harebell roots to staunch the bleeding and keep the flesh
from turning foul. Sweyn held Magnus' head up for her to spoon an
elixir of Monk's-Hood into his mouth. 'Twould dull the pain and
keep him asleep.

All they could do now was pray and wait.

Chief Angus sent for the priest to come to
the solar, for he sought understanding.

"I know Feradoch brought this terrible time
upon us, but I am partly to blame. He lived with me since he was a
lad. It was my fault if I did not teach him proper values. I
thought I had. By the way he died, 'tis obvious I failed."

"You did your best. Graemme is a credit to
you. Feradoch was a man who had to go his own way, whether good or
bad." He paced the floor and stopped to study Angus. "Will Chief
Olaf accept my prayers over his son?"

"Aye. I think he will. He is hurting and in
conflict. Like me, he loved both men, though one more than the
other."

Father David came back in the middle of the
night. He found Chief Angus with his shoulders slumped, waiting for
him beside the fireplace in his solar. The priest told him Feradoch
had no killing injuries on his body. It was God's will that his
heart had given way and stopped beating.

By dawn, not a hint of the army at their
gates remained.

o0o

After a fortnight of careful nursing, Magnus
healed enough to sit up in bed. If Muriele left his side, he tried
to wait patiently for her return. If she didn't come when he
expected, his bellows echoed from one end of the keep to the other.
Old Grunda had assured them their first child would be born on the
ninth month after their wedding. 'Twas clear to all Magnus couldn't
stand to have his wife far from his side.

With Magnus recovering, Chief Angus sent an
impressive escort with Father David to deliver a missive to the
king. He wrote a full report of all that had transpired between
Clibrick and Kinbrace Castles. He also assured him Sir Magnus and
Lady Muriele would take residence at Blackbriar within a month.

When Magnus and Muriele arrived at her former
home, she was ecstatic with joy. She had to look closely for the
stonemasons had painstakingly repaired the damage done by the
Kinbrace trebuchets and catapults.

"Aye! The new kitchen, blacksmith's station,
stables, weaving huts…they have rebuilt everything necessary to the
successful running of a castle. We'll comb the villages for
workers. Within a fortnight or two, no one will know a battle
occurred here." Magnus grinned as he saw his brother, hands on his
hips and a pleased smile on his face, studying the castle.

"Blackbriar is every bit the size of
Clibrick!" Magnus walked up beside Sweyn and elbowed him in the
ribs. "Now ye will be living in one place all year, there is no
reason to delay a wedding."

"Huh! If I could get Esa to say aught but
'Nay'"

"Mayhap ye should enlist Grunda's aide? She
did a masterful job overcoming Muriele's objections." Magnus
grinned, watching Muriele and Esa hurrying across the great hall
heading above to the living quarters.

"This was my parents' rooms." Muriele showed
Esa around the bedchamber and solar, then took her to see her old
rooms. "I want you to move into my old chambers here where we can
be close."

"I wouldn't feel right having such a room,"
Esa hesitated as she stared at the lovely furnishings.

"Dinna be a fool, Esa," Grunda said from the
doorway. "This room is perfect for two."

"Two?"

"Aye. Ye and Sweyn. 'Tis about time ye put
him out of his misery. He knows of Feradoch and yer shameful
secret, and loves ye as ye are. Not often in life do ye find two
people who love each other and are able to wed. Dinna be a gowk and
fight it. 'Tis fated ye be together."

"Aha! Listen to her, Esa. Once she has
decided ye should mate, 'tis best not to resist!"

"Well, now we have settled everything, I must
see to my cottage and gardens. A young woman from the village has
been tending them and wishes to learn to be a healer." Grunda
flicked her fingers at them and breezed from the room.

Before the evening meal, Magnus waited
impatiently as Muriel finished her own ablutions and dressed.

"Come, love, I need yer final decision on
something."

"Since when have you asked my aid with
anything?

He scowled at her, warning, "Don't get used
to it."

He refused to answer any more questions as he
led her below the castle where the former barons and their wives
lay entombed. It was a huge room and very beautiful, much like the
inside of an abbey. Magnificent stone arches and angels with
widespread wings lent an air of peace one felt when in a sanctified
place.

On a marble base, Lord Colban's tomb, with
his stone effigy carved on top, held the prominent spot in the
center of the huge room. Stonemasons had enlarged the base so a
tomb equally as beautiful joined his. Muriele's tears started to
fall as she realized Magnus had ordered Ragnhild's body brought and
placed next to her beloved husband. Their likenesses were so well
done she ran to kiss their faces.

Magnus followed, putting a comforting arm
across her shoulders.

"The sculptor couldn't finish carving your
mother's ring, for he'd never seen it. With your consent, tomorrow
he will make a drawing of it and the carving will be complete."

Muriele turned and hugged her arms around his
neck. She leaned back and blinked away her tears so she could see
into his eyes. Never did she dream Magnus the Ruthless could have
such a tender expression. He truly loved her as much as she loved
him.

He had finally realized few things in life
are totally right or wrong.

There are many shades of gray.

-o0o-

Look for these intriguing romances
in

Sophia Johnson’s Raptor Castle
Series

Brother Ranald of Raptor Castle, a scarred
monk in Scotland’s Kelso Abbey, has a fearsome temper that causes
objects to fly about, turn still waters stormy and candles to light
with but a look. In the peace of the abbey. He controls his rage
and fights his forbidden desires, but what would he become in the
secular world?

‘Tis his greatest fear when his father
arrives with an army to force Ranald to return to Raptor Castle and
wed. This monk turned man must now become husband and warrior.

Letia of Seton Castle is as beautiful as she
is capable. Famed for her skill at training archers and slingers,
she is used to commanding the castles defenses when needful.
Married to elderly Baron de Burgh, she has never birthed an
heir.

She must protect her castle and people when
Maud and Stephen’s battles throw England into anarchy. She
sacrifices all when her husband devises a plan to save Seton Castle
from ruin when he dies.

‘Twas a simple plan with very few steps to
follow: Capture her enemy, seduce him, bear his child and save her
people. But falling in love was not in the plan.

The Morgan and Gunn clans in the Highlands of
Scotland have been feuding for longer than anyone can remember,
until the chiefs decided to foster their sons with each other.

Before Magnus of Clibrick Castle and Feradoch
of Kinbrace Castle exchanged places when they reached their seventh
year, their fathers ordered them to swear a blood oath that each
would uphold the peace when they became men. Once they are grown
and return to their own strongholds, should either man be felled by
treachery, the other will seek vengeance for the deed.

Years later when the Gunn’s call Magnus to
honor the oath, he never expected to hunt down and hang Muriel of
Blackbriar, a bewitching woman he captured and fell in love with
when he besieged her castle.

In the Taming of the Shrew, Katharine met her
match in Petruchio. She was fortunate not to be in Elyne of Raptor
Castle’s shoes. When Elyne goes toe to toe with Graemme of Clibrick
Castle, he checkmates her every move!

Graemme is not the harsh man Magnus is, but a
vow made is also sacred to him. Elyne keeps one step ahead of him
and leads him a merry and sometimes treacherous race before he gets
the better of her.

But all is not laughter. Someone plots to
kidnap Elyne, and when he tires of her, he will delight in killing
her.

Gloria Paugh Kohler (1941 – 2012)

Gloria first wrote to me on February 26,
2006, after reading
Risk Everything.
She was my first fan.
From then on, every time I turned on my e-mail, I scanned the list
of addresses looking for Dragoness83. My husband did the same on
his pc, because he'd send her the funny things he found, just to
make her laugh.

She always told me the truth about a
character or plot and I never disregarded her advice.

This past year, I didn't write often. Gloria
didn't either. I had no idea she was so ill. I thought she was
tired of hearing about my problems. Instead, I should have been
writing to tell her how important she was to me.

I regret that with all my heart.

o0o

Many special thanks to Valeri Sperry for her
excellent job of editing
Ruthless
. Also for calling when
she finished the book and hollering, "What! I didn't want it to
end. Where's the next book?"

Thank you, Lori Devoti, for formatting the
Raptor Castle Series. I don't know what I'd do without you.

Dear Readers,

You'll recognize Muriele as the lovely woman
from
Forbidden
who catches Raik's eye. You knew she was
deathly afraid and hiding from someone in the Highlands who was
chasing her across Scotland. She was so desperate for a strong
warrior to take her to an Abbey in Northumbria she tried to seduce
Ranald to take her there.